Begging For A Goodbye
by Moon Faery
Summary: A terrible accident forces Heero and Duo to realize exactly how precious and short life can be.


Begging For A Goodbye 1/1  
Rating: PG13  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: Angst  
Pairings: 1x2x1  
Spoilers: Nada!  
Warnings: Yaoi; Angst  
By Moon Faery

Archived: (eventually at) Moon Faery's Garden ); Kiss of Death ); Lev's Lair )

Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing. All materials are used without the permission of their various owners. However, this story line, original characters and plot are MINE. Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....

Author Notes: (hides under her giant plushie bunny) No, I don't know how it ends and no, I'm not even going to try to write it, so please don't ask. No sequel. No part two. No continuation. Please don't hurt me.

***

_beep... beep... beep..._

"Heero."

Heero jumped as someone touched his shoulder, never letting go of the tiny hand clasped between his own. His bloodshot eyes looked up at his husband, barely noticing how awful they both looked. "Duo?"

Kneeling down beside the hospital bed beside Heero, Duo wrapped his arms around his love's shoulders, holding him close. Neither one payed any attention to the nurse hovering in the doorway. "Heero, visiting hours are over. We have to go."

"Just a few more minutes," Heero whispered hoarsely, voice ragged from hours of crying. "They'll give us a few more minutes, won't they?"

Duo risked a quick glance at the nurse, who nodded somberly, offering them a small smile before shutting the door to give them some privacy. Carefully, so as not to jostle the IVs, Duo reached out to rest his hand on Heero's. He imagined that maybe they could give some of their life to the little girl they both loved so much.

The silence stretched out for a few moments, marked only by the steady "_beep... beep..._" of the heart monitor.

Heero never took his eyes off the indescribably delicate figure on the too-large hospital bed, afraid that if he looked away she'd be gone. He did his best to absorb all the little details, almost wishing he had a god to pray to.

Before the doctors had been forced to shave her head she had thick blue-black hair that tumbled into loose curls, something that had come as a shock to both her parents when he had been "born". She had Duo's chin and nose and Heero's sharp cheekbones, with eyes that were either blue or violet depending on her moods, but usually settled on a brilliant lavender-gray. Her favorite stuffed unicorn rested on a table beside her hospital bed, watching her through worried glass eyes. The hospital bracelet on her wrist read Memorii Maxwell in some nurse's graceless scrawl, nothing like the flowing way she wrote her own letters. Heero knew that he could identify every tube, machine and wire attached to her and maybe reassure himself. He had never thought he would see his own daughter attached to them, fighting for her life, all because of some idiot who couldn't drive. When he and Duo had decided to have someone engineer their child, he had never thought he might have to say goodbye.

Now he might not get the chance.

He wanted to kiss her cheek, to beg her to hold out for them, but he didn't think he could do it without shifting some of the life support equipment. He couldn't even make himself talk to her, even knowing that it might be his last chance. The thought that she couldn't answer, that he might never hear her as a question he couldn't answer or giggle after putting whipped cream in their shampoo or waking them up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare or asking them to check for monsters...

It hurt too much to talk to her.

"Heero, we have to go," Duo repeated uselessly, only the faintest weakness in his voice showing how hard it was for him too. They both knew that when they got home he would break down, that he couldn't let go enough to cry even in the semi-private of a hospital room. Duo said that he was just weak that way; Heero was just grateful that he didn't mind letting Heero have his turn first. He didn't think he could have waited until the hospital kicked them out to loose his mind.

"I know," Heero replied tonelessly, giving Memorii's little hand one last squeeze before laying it back on the bed. "They'll call if..?"

"Yeah," Duo answered, helping his husband to his feet, wincing sympathetically when his knees let out loud pops in protest. "I told them what we'd do if they didn't."

Normally, the idea of Duo threatening doctors would have made Heero smile, but he just watched their daughter. "We should go."

"Mr. Yuy? Mr. Maxwell?" The nurse in the hall cracked thr door open, peering in appologetically. "I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave."

The couple nodded. "We're coming," Duo reassured her, wrapping his arm around Heero's waist and guiding him towards the door.

Heero turned back for one last look, achingly aware that it might be the last one he ever had. Something warm brushed down his cheek, and he turned his face into Duo's hand, drawing strength from the simple contact. Smiling briefly, he broke away and led the way down the hall, still clutching Duo's hand. He paused to throw the night shift nurse a heart-breaking glare. "We'll be back in the morning. She'll be alive." He left the "or else" unsaid. She nodded, clutching her clipboard to her chest, watching them with a look of mixed fear and pity. Heero turned back to the cold, antiseptic hall, trying to block out the sound of Memorii's cardiometer behind them and the knowledge that it might stop any moment.

_beep... beep... beep..._

***


End file.
